Life has really changed in the past year. We got married, we moved from LA to Omaha, and we bought our first house - a ranch. Since we've got so much going on we figured we'd better document it all - whether it serves as a success story or a cautionary tale to all newlywed couples who think remodeling a house sounds like a good idea. Here's a his and hers perspective on moving from the coast to the plains, and the joys and sorrows of home improvement.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Parting is such sweet sorrow...sort of.

My friends were shocked. See, I was born and raised in Miami and have lived in Manhattan and Los Angeles. So you can see why some of my friends were concerned Omaha would be a bit of a culture shock for me. Then again these are the same friends who think Omaha is one big cow pasture with nothing but overalls and Applebee's restaurants as far as the eye can see.

Au contrer, my friends. Omaha is a happening place! It has amazing restaurants, a great music scene, and ultra cool people who are actually NICE and SAY HELLO when they pass you on the street and don’t YELL AT YOU when you’re trying to make a left turn on a busy street but no one is letting you through and you hate L.A. and all this stupid traffic and you just wish it would die and…!!!!

Um, sorry about that. A little remnant road rage. Two and a half years in LA will do that to a girl. Where were we? Oh yes. Still have doubts? Well let me put it this way. Omaha has been ranked:

- Among the “Top 20 Best Places to Raise a Family” by the TODAY show (and let it be known that I believe anything Matt Lauer tells me.)- Third among Kiplingers “Top 10 Best Cities in 2008”- Third among Salary.com’s “Best Cities To Build Personal Wealth”- And 8th on the CNNMoney.com’s list of “Best Places to Live for Affordable Housing”

So suck on that, naysayers!

Oh, and did I mention that Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world lives in Omaha? Well he does. And a man worth more than the GDP of most small countries wouldn’t live in some prairie dump, now would he? No. I think not.

Omaha is also home to musician Conor Oberst. Don’t know who he is? Click here to find out. Doesn’t he just OOZE cool? Other Omaha natives (I’m still not sure what they’re called…Omahans? Omahanis? Yomahas?) include dancer/actor Fred Astaire, Wade Boggs (really famous baseball player…or so says Wikipedia), Marlon Brando (if you don’t know Marlon Brando please stop reading this blog and go rent On The Waterfront, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now), President Gerald Ford, actor Henry Fonda, Playboy’s Miss December 1982 and Miss July 1993 (are their names really important?), actor and crackpot Nick Nolte, Alexander Payne (the screenwriter/director behind About Schmidt and Sideways), the dudes from 311, and tennis star (and all around dreamboat) Andy Roddick.

And now it’s home to me and the hubby. And we’re thankful that the city has welcomed us with open arms and lovely weather.